Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Kathmandu Durbar Square
Kathmandu Durbar Square
I born on Kathmandu Durbar square. I grow up here with my lovely childhood moments.I love my birth place. Definitely this is an historical & world heritage place. We all have to save our world heritage site & We must have to preserve our monuments. We have to show it our all goods things for this world. I would like to request you all of you people that please come once to visit our place.
Here is about my research of Kathmandu Durbar Square from Internet, books, Videos & many more.
The Durbar square is surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The royal palace was originally situated at Dattaraya square and was only later moved to the Durbar square location.
The Kathmandu Durbar
Square holds the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city.
Along with these palaces, the square also surrounds quadrangles revealing
courtyards and temples. The square is presently known as Hanuman Dhoka, a name
derived from the statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, near the
entrance of the palace. The preference for the construction of royal palaces at
this site dates back to as early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even
though the present palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive
renovations and nothing physical remains from that period, names like Gunapo
and Gupo, which are the names referred to the palaces in the square in early
scriptures, imply that the palaces were built by Gunakamadev, a king ruling
late in the tenth century. When Kathmandu City became independent under the
rule of King Ratna Malla (1484–1520) the palaces in the square became the royal
palaces for its Malla kings. When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu
Valley in 1769, he also favored the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace.
Other subsequent Shah kings continued to rule from the square until 1896 when
they moved to the Narayan Hiti Palace. However, the square is still the center
of important royal events like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah
in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.
Though there are not
any written archives stating the history of the Kathmandu Durbar Square, the
construction of the palace in the square is credited to Sankharadev
(1069–1083). As the first king of the independent Kathmandu City, Ratna Malla
is said to have built a Taleju temple at the Northern side of the palace in
1501. For this to be true then the temple would have had to have been built in
the vihara style as part of the palace premise surrounding the Mul Chok
courtyard for no evidence of a separate structure that would match this temple
can be found within the square.
The construction of
the Karnel Chok is also not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions
although it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. A
Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the
mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the
early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so
Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely
transforming the name of the temple.
The oldest temples
in the square are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the
temples of Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju
Temple. This three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical
Newari architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a
pyramid-like structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in
Bhaktapur, was highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being
pleased with his devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for
her in the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Then with a help of a hermit, he designed
the temple to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in
the form of a bee.
His successors
Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laxmi
Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the
square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have
occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother
Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar
Simha.
It was in the time
of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, that the square was extensively
developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and he was especially
interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted
that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder,
following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his
royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines
and stupas around his kingdom. there also took the massacre called Kot Parva
where the queen, prime minister, head of the states,and other people with
guards died. this massacre took place in the court yard inside the palace.
During the
construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low
and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and
paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the
entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of
Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home.
The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as
coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was
named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the
sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of
these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord
Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after
the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of
Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half lion and half human
form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara
Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for
the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal
residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of
treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this
time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed
that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk
instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan
Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply
intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others'
devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the
older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the
Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two
Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was
built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique
temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok,
he also donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju,
he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his
grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a
substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti
he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved
hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of
Kali.
At the Southern end
of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru,
which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion
named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an
idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in
the Valley.
In the process of
beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok,
he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He also built a small pond,
the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent,
which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar
Square. He also restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana,
the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was
placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the Eastern wing of
the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in
Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in
Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord
Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is
adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten feet high image of
terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the
Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially
during Durga Puja.
With the death of Pratap
Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square also came
to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the
prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers
encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of
the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on
culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death,
steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power,
with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included
Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or
Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount
of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla
also added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.
Around 1692,
Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of
Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple
stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the
square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the
widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and
his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as
Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a
substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake
in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the
Newari architecture.
Jayaprakash Malla,
the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari, Durga in her
virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a
typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, an immature girl who is
revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the
courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.
During the Shah dynasty
that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the
most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the
Nautale, a nine storied building known as Vasantapur Durbar. It has four roofs
and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said
that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were
made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows,
sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall.
The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This
building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now
commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the
Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in
popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these
two buildings in 1770.
Rana Bahadur Shah
was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi
Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a
close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the
square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is
remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular
in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground
floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper
floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation
made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet
Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra
Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every
year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a
latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation
Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju.
Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha,
the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess.
Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the
death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur
Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed
including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.
In 1908, a palace,
Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime
Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from
the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles.
The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a
large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies
of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the
square below.
Time and again the
temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after
being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten
quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage
sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of
the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju Temples are only open for
people of Hindu and Buddhist faith.
Some of the parts of
the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the Southern section of
the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in
1934. While building the New Road, the Southeastern part of the palace was
cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past.
Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier
seventeenth century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an
ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces,
temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together
over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties.
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square is one of three durbar (royal palace) squares in the
Kathmandu Valley. It is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was
the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important
ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, still take place
today. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and
panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum.
It is also possible to visit the State Rooms inside the palace. At the southern
end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari
Chowk. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a young girl chosen through an
ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the
Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshipped during religious festivals and
makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.
###Collected from wikipedia
The construction of
the Karnel Chok is also not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions
although it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. A
Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the
mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the
early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so
Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely
transforming the name of the temple.
His successors
Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laxmi
Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the
square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have
occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother
Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar
Simha.
It was in the time
of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, that the square was extensively
developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and he was especially
interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted
that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder,
following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his
royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines
and stupas around his kingdom. there also took the massacre called Kot Parva
where the queen, prime minister, head of the states,and other people with
guards died. this massacre took place in the court yard inside the palace.
During the
construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low
and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and
paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the
entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of
Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home.
The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as
coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was
named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the
sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of
these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord
Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after
the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of
Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half lion and half human
form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara
Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for
the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal
residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of
treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this
time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed
that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk
instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan
Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply
intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others'
devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the
older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the
Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two
Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was
built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique
temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok,
he also donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju,
he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his
grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a
substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti
he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved
hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of
Kali.
At the Southern end
of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru,
which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion
named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an
idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in
the Valley.
In the process of
beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok,
he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He also built a small pond,
the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent,
which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar
Square. He also restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana,
the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was
placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the Eastern wing of
the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in
Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in
Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord
Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is
adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten feet high image of
terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the
Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially
during Durga Puja.
With the death of Pratap
Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square also came
to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the
prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers
encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of
the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on
culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death,
steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power,
with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included
Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or
Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount
of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla
also added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.
Around 1692,
Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of
Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple
stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the
square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the
widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and
his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as
Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a
substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake
in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the
Newari architecture.
Jayaprakash Malla,
the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari, Durga in her
virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a
typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, an immature girl who is
revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the
courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.
During the Shah dynasty
that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the
most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the
Nautale, a nine storied building known as Vasantapur Durbar. It has four roofs
and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said
that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were
made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows,
sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall.
The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This
building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now
commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the
Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in
popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these
two buildings in 1770.
Rana Bahadur Shah
was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi
Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a
close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the
square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is
remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular
in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground
floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper
floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation
made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet
Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra
Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every
year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a
latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation
Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju.
Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha,
the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess.
Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the
death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur
Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed
including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.
In 1908, a palace,
Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime
Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from
the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles.
The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a
large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies
of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the
square below.
Time and again the
temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after
being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten
quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage
sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of
the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju Temples are only open for
people of Hindu and Buddhist faith.
Some of the parts of
the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the Southern section of
the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in
1934. While building the New Road, the Southeastern part of the palace was
cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past.
Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier
seventeenth century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an
ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces,
temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together
over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties.
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square is one of three durbar (royal palace) squares in the
Kathmandu Valley. It is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was
the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important
ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, still take place
today. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and
panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum.
It is also possible to visit the State Rooms inside the palace. At the southern
end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari
Chowk. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a young girl chosen through an
ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the
Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshipped during religious festivals and
makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.
###Collected from wikipedia
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